The ports in the storm

The image of empty vessels anchored offshore is perhaps the best way to illustrate the state of marine commerce in 2009. Freight volumes have fallen globally, putting ports everywhere under tremendous pressure. Canada’s major ocean ports have not been immune, and with millions of dollars tied up in long-term expansion projects, the stakes are high. MM&D checked in to see what’s on the horizon.

Port of Prince Rupert

The pre-recession forecast
The Port of Prince Rupert is in a unique situation. In 2006, while the new Fairview Container Terminal was under construction, management anticipated container traffic of 500,000 TEUs by 2010. The new terminal opened in late 2007, with a significant second-phase expansion on the horizon.

Not a year after the terminal opened for business, trans-Pacific trade started to slide and the economic meltdown occurred.

The plan now
“We recognized [our original goals] had become unrealistic in the new business environment,” says Barry Bartlett, the port’s manager of corporate communications.

So the port has taken a pragmatic approach to building business. While the second phase of the Fairview terminal is still going ahead, with the goal of upping the port’s capacity to two million TEUs by 2014, the sense of urgency to finish it is gone. This has allowed management to focus on its complement of logistics capabilities, including container stuffing and reloading, transloading, warehousing and cold storage.

The approach is working; so far in 2009, the port has surpassed its total 2008 numbers, both in terms of TEUs and overall tonnage.

“In this economic climate, it’s difficult to forecast,” Bartlett says.

“We expect Prince Rupert will play a larger role in the trans-Pacific theatre over the years to come.”

Port Metro Vancouver

The pre-recession forecast
At the end of 2007 and into the first quarter of 2008, following amalgamation of the three Lower Mainland port authorities (the Vancouver Port Authority, the Fraser River Port Authority and the North Fraser Port Authority), Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) expected to handle approximately 130 million tonnes of total cargo per year. Instead, the port handled 115 million tonnes of cargo in 2008. However, it saw no change in container volumes from 2007 to 2008, handling roughly 2.5 million TEUs both years.

The plan now
As of September, PMV’s total cargo volumes were down 14 percent year-to-date. Container volumes were down 16 percent.